


The Continuation of War by More Difficult Means

by nonisland



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Backstory, Community: hooked_on_heroines, Diplomacy, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-30
Updated: 2010-12-30
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonisland/pseuds/nonisland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth remembers to breathe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Continuation of War by More Difficult Means

**Author's Note:**

> For #49 ("Politics") of [the Women Are Awesome prompt table](http://hooked-on-heroines.dreamwidth.org/6989.html) at [](http://hooked-on-heroines.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hooked_on_heroines**](http://hooked-on-heroines.dreamwidth.org/). (Originally written 19 May 2010.)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Should you find something, whilst reading one of my stories, that offends you/is incorrect/could offend others/is in any way problematic, please please _please_ do not hesitate to tell me. I will never spew hate at you, I will never attack you, and I will _always_ thank you for taking the time to let me know.

Elizabeth had decided a long time ago that diplomacy was not only the continuation of war by other means, it was the continuation of war by more _difficult_ means.

Nobody was willing to cede anything. She’d always thrived on challenges, but right now this was starting to look like the difference between “difficult” and “impossible”, and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to cry or blow the whole damn Baltic region off the map more.

She wasn’t going to do either, of course. They hadn’t flown her in from Washington to have a tantrum, even if they _were_ acting like two-year-olds playing for the first time in the communal sandbox.

 _Be the playground monitor, Weir_ , she thought, startling a giggle out of herself.

An undersecretary gave her a strange look.

Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m afraid that won’t do, sir,” she said slowly. _Keep going. You’ve taken classes on this._ She’d never given up on anything yet; she wasn’t going to let this be the breaking point.

Afterward, Simon told her to breathe (to relax, that she’d done great).

It was years before she remembered she’d been breathing the whole time.


End file.
